I eye Griffin and Maverick sitting outside on a bench, hoping they’re waiting for Phoenix so I can go see Sedona. “I had to make sure I was stable and wouldn’t make the same mistake again. If I came too early and I wasn’t prepared to handle everything… I don’t expect you to understand.”
Another roll of her eyes. “You could still fuck this up—again. Believe me, if that happens, I won’t be taking a backseat. None of us will.”
I’m surprised it’s taken her this long to threaten me. Phoenix does nothing half-assed.
“Fine. If I fuck up again, you get the first punch.”
“With brass knuckles,” she says.
“Sure, brass knuckles and all.”
She shakes her head and steadies her gaze on me. “Stop trying to make this a joke.”
I raise both hands. “I’m not joking. I’m serious. If I fuck this up, you’re welcome to beat me to a bloody pulp, okay?” I step forward, lowering my voice. “But, Phoenix, I’ll warn you now, I’m not going anywhere. I’m here to win my family back. So you can try to interfere and be the annoying bee in your sister’s ear, but a love like ours doesn’t disappear after one fuck-up. Even a giant one like mine. I guarantee she still loves me. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind when I let her leave me, but I am now. And things are going to be very different. You can either accept that or not. I’m trying to prove myself to you all but there are only two people I really care about making amends to, and one of them is lying in the hospital and the other one is wondering who the hell her daddy is. So you can take yer threats and shove them up yer arse.” I step back and stuff my hands in my pockets.
To my surprise, Phoenix says nothing, but her seething eyes speak volumes. I’m not backing down though. From what I can tell, it’ll be her and Kingston standing as a united front, trying to keep me from Sedona. If I stand firm and make them see how important this is to me, maybe they’ll eventually back off.
The sliding doors of the hospital open, Maverick standing there. “Dad said we have to go. The plane is ready.”
Phoenix exhales, staring long and hard at me. “I have to go to LA for a meeting with my record label.” She pokes me in the chest. “I’m stopping on the way back to buy a pair of brass knuckles, so don’t fuck it up.” She twirls around and stomps away from me. “Coming, sweetie,” she say in a sweet-as-pie voice.
Maverick groans. “Phoenix, you can’t call me that anymore.”
She rests her arm over her stepson’s shoulders. “Sorry, I forgot. Dude a better option?”
Maverick groans again and Phoenix laughs as if she can change her mood with the flick of a switch. But then she glances over her shoulder to give me a death stare.
I turn around and head to the hospital gift shop, happy to finally be alone with Sedona for as long as she’ll allow me.
Turns out there’s a lot of sleeping after you have a baby, plus she’s on pain pills, so I’m not sure she even knows I’m in the chair next to her.
As I watch deliveries of flowers and balloons being taken to other rooms, Sedona’s room remains bare except for the snacks and magazines I gave her. I suppose that’s normal since she’s not going home with a baby.
I flick through the television to find anything other than some raunchy talk show about who’s the daddy or a court show where two people can’t be civilized enough to handle their affairs off-air and choose instead to bring their grievances in front of a judge for all the world to see.
Holly stands in the doorway, appearing alarmed to find me. I drop my feet from the chair I slid in front of me to stretch out.
“I didn’t think you’d be here. I thought everyone left.” She hovers at the door.
“They did. I stayed.”
A small smile creases her lips. “I just wanted to check on her. We’re in a room down the hall with Harper. We should be released tomorrow though. She’s perfectly healthy.” She steps into the room hesitantly as if there’s a live wire at her feet.
“Sedona’s pretty out of it. The nurse just gave her a dose of pain pills and she’s been asleep ever since.”
Resting her back on the wall, Holly crosses her ankles. “Yeah, I slept almost an entire day afterward. Lucky for me, I had Austin to help with Easton.”
I nod, understanding her sly way of ridiculing the fact that I wasn’t here to help Sedona. “I can’t take back what happened.”
She holds up her hand. “I know. I didn’t mean like that.”
I raise my eyebrows.
“Okay, maybe a little, but it sounded much worse out loud than it did in my head. Listen.” She breaks the distance. “You know this family. You’ve known them longer than me.”
Yeah, for some reason, Holly is still more Principal Radcliffe in my mind than someone who will hopefully be my sister-in-law one day.
“They’re tight, and the mistake you made was huge. You’re up against a lot, but I also think she still loves you.”
I inch forward as though she’s about to let me in on a secret.
“And I would never argue with the heart. It wins every time. It’s not always right, but it’s too powerful for the mind to convince otherwise. The heart takes all rational thoughts and beliefs and throws them in a dumpster. All I ask of you is to make sure, because the woman in that bed just gave me the best gift anyone ever could.” A tear trickles down her cheek and she swipes it, shaking her head as if she still can’t believe how lucky she is. “I mean, I can never pay her back but… I don’t want to be a boulder in the way of her getting what she wants. I think there’s enough of those people lined up between you two.” She fixes her gaze on Sedona’s sleeping form. “She’s special and deserves to be treated as such.”
“I know.”
She smiles. “I’m really proud of you for going to rehab and getting your life in order.”
I chuckle. Always the principal. I remember when she had every senior visit her during the first year she was a principal so she could ask about our life plans and help us chart a course. From the way she’s talking to me, she must remember what I told her. God knows I’ve never forgotten. Soccer and Sedona are still my goal, even if the soccer part is going to be different than I imagined. “Thanks.”
“I’m serious, Jamison. It’s something to be proud of. A lot of people lose the battle.”
“I’m not sure my fight will ever be over.”
She nods. “Probably not, but I think you’re moving in the right direction.”
We look at Sedona peacefully sleeping. What I wouldn’t do to slide into that bed and hold her. “I think so too.”
She gives my shoulder a squeeze and leaves the room. I lean back in my chair, dozing for I don’t know how long until I try to change position and the arm on the chair forbids movement, so I sit up, stretching my neck and back.
Sedona’s staring at me with her untouched dinner tray in front of her.
I sit up straight, blinking my eyes to fully awake. “What time is it?”
“Six,” she says. “Why are you here?”
“I wasn’t gonna leave you alone.”